We are thinking of summer meals that we prepare for dining outside with friends and family, beside the pool or out on the back patio, but having a good time whatever the occasion.

            First, we have Nita Holleman’s Meat Loaf, contributed by Amanda Thomas-Henke, a reader who has moved away from the area but she still calls Apopka her hometown and still subscribes to The Apopka Chief. This recipe can be adapted to pretty much any kind of ground meat you have that you wish to use. There are suggestions for adding the needed fat to make a delicious meat loaf from venison. Amanda says she adds some garlic to hers and sautés the sweet onion and garlic before mixing it into the meat loaf.

            Bonnie Werley’s Teriyaki Chicken Wings will be delicious and fairly simple to roast in the oven after preparing them the night before and having them soak in marinade overnight.

            Teresa Ward’s Buffalo Wings recipe also looks to be easy and delicious. The wings are cooked on top of the stove in Crisco.

            For a new twist on burgers, we have Eloise Surrette’s ground turkey burgers with Roquefort. Remember to use your thermometer in the burgers to make sure the turkey gets to a temperature of 165 degrees to eliminate potentially harmful bacteria.

            From Nancy Thomas, a long-time reader, we have potato salad. I have served this potato salad many times and always get lots of thumbs-ups! If you don’t care for dill pickle, omit it or replace it with sweet pickle.

            Paths of Sunshine Cookbook provides our dessert recipe, Key Lime Pie. I just love the sweet, tangy taste of key lime pie, don’t you? And it is perfect for outside dining because it is served cold.

NITA HOLLEMAN’s MEAT LOAF, CONTRIBUTED BY AMANDA THOMAS-HENKE

Reader of The Apopka Chief newspaper

Meat loaf:

1-1/2 pounds ground beef OR ground shoulder roast OR venison or other game meat… 

see below for game meat loaf instructions

1 slice bread, broken or chopped finely

1 egg

1 small Vidalia onion or sweet onion, chopped finely

1 teaspoon table salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 tablespoons ketchup

1/2 to 2/3 cup whole milk OR Half & Half

Sauce:

4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 to 4 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed firm (or amount to taste)

1/2 cup ketchup

Sauce instructions:

            Combine meat loaf ingredients and place into a loaf baking dish. Smooth out top.

            Combine sauce ingredients and pour on top and sides of meat loaf.

            Bake at 350 degrees about one hour to an hour and 15 minutes or until done. Nita Holleman, the originator from Food.com, says the addition of 1 or 2 teaspoons of Kitchen Bouquet makes this recipe very good. Recipe should be ‘plump’ from the addition of the milk or Half & Half. It should not be runny.

            If you are using game meat such as deer, which is a very dry meat, it is wise to add some fat to the deer meat. For instance: for one pound of ground venison, add about 1/2 pound of deer sausage for the fat content. Otherwise, your results will be poor for lack of fat.

            Preparation time for the meat loaf is 20 minutes, baking takes one hour or a little more.

BONNIE WERLEY’S TERIYAKI CHICKEN WINGS

Recipe from 1990 Presbyterian Women First Presbyterian Church of Apopka,

Treasures and Pleasures cookbook

1/3 cup lemon juice concentrate

1/4 cup catsup

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon pepper

3 pounds chicken wing drumettes or chicken wings cut at joints with wing tips removed

            Combine all ingredients except chicken. Mix well. Place chicken in shallow baking dish or ZipLok bag. Pour marinade over. Seal and refrigerate overnight, turning occasionally. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange chicken on rack in shallow baking pan. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, basting occasionally until golden brown. Can be served as hors d’oeuvres.

TERESA WARD’S BUFFALO WINGS

Recipe from Apopka Citizen Police Alumni Association,

Sharing Our Finest Cookbook

5 pounds chicken wings

Crisco shortening

1 bottle Louisiana hot sauce

1/2 cup butter

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup warm water

            Melt Crisco in large skillet. When grease is popping, add wings. Fry until golden brown and crispy. While chicken is frying, make dipping sauce, as follows:

Dipping Sauce:

            Melt butter in medium saucepan, then add hot sauce. Mix cornstarch and water together. The mixture needs to be soupy. When butter and hot sauce are at a boil, add cornstarch mixture, just a little at a time, stirring constantly. It will make a gravy-like mixture. You can either dip wings into the sauce mixture or dribble it over wings on plate. For hotter sauce, add more hot sauce and less butter.

ELOISE SURRETTE’S TURKEY ROQUEFORT BURGERS

Recipe from Apopka Citizen Police Alumni Association’s Sharing Our Finest Cookbook

1 pound ground turkey

1/2 small peeled onion, minced

1/2 cup Roquefort of Blue cheese dressing

            Combine ingredients and mix lightly. Gently shape into eight patties. Brown or barbeque three inches from heat two minutes on each side. Each patty has about 105 carlories.

NANCY THOMAS’ POTATO SALAD

Recipe from Reader of The Apopka Chief newspaper

Five pounds potatoes boiled in skins till tender

Five or six eggs boiled hard

Celery, about two ribs

Multicolored sweet peppers, six small

Sweet onion, 1/4 large (not too much)

Dill pickle, large, diced

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup or more Mayonnaise (as needed)

Dill weed, just a sprinkle or omit if you dislike dill

Dry mustard, 1/8 teaspoon

Celery seed, 1/4 teaspoon

Paprika, sprinkles over the top

            Cook, drain and cool potatoes. Cook, drain and cool eggs by putting ice on drained eggs while hot. Peel the skins from warm potatoes and set aside. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, chop into pieces no larger than 1/2 inch or so. Salt and pepper the potatoes in big bowl and mix with spatula. Setting aside at least two whole eggs to slice for garnish, peel the cooled eggs, chop, salt and pepper to taste. Dice celery. Setting aside a couple of the peppers to slice for garnish, slice and dice five or six small peppers. Slice and dice 1/4 large onion. Fold together in big bowl the potatoes, eggs, celery, peppers, onion, and pickle.

            Mix dressing in separate bowl: 1/2 cup, maybe a little more, of the mayonnaise and two tablespoons or so of dill pickle juice. Add to this soupy mixture, 1/4 teaspoon each of following: dill weed, dry mustard, celery seed. Add salt and pepper to taste if more is needed.

            Pour the dressing into the potato salad. Fold together. Don’t make mashed potatoes out of the mixture!

            Place the garnishes, colorful pepper rings and sliced eggs, on top of the salad:. Sprinkle red paprika on top to make it beautiful. Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator long enough to allow the flavors to meld together. Serve cold.

KEY LIME PIE

Recipe from Florida Federation of Garden Clubs 

Paths of Sunshine Cookbook

2 (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk

4 whole eggs

1 cup key lime juice, fresh or frozen

1 cup whipping cream, whipped

2 graham cracker crust pie shells

Beat the first three ingredients together. Fold cold whipped cream into first mixture. Pour into the two pie shells. Chill for several hours or overnight. Yields two pies.